First TV Commercial Shoot

[Ben Dailey]

Later this week I will be filming my first commercial. It's for a local car dealership. He's donating a car to a Christian school for a fund raiser. The commercial will air on a local network television station.

I'm using a Panasonic HC-X900M. I plan to use a Tascam DR-40 with a shotgun mic on a boom, as well as the built in mics on the DR-40, and camera mic. I use Adobe Premiere, which has a nice audio sync feature, so syncing the audio from the DR-40 to the video shouldn't be a problem.

Unless weather changes it will more than likely be filmed inside the dealership, in the show room. I'm thinking this should actually help the audio since there would be less background noise.

Any comments or tips are appreciated.

[Jay Massengill]

What model of shotgun mic are you planning on using?

There is more to say once I know what model of shotgun, but the normal factors such as carefully monitoring the audio with good headphones (especially the boom operator) and making sure a strong clean signal is being recorded on the camera to allow easier sync.

If you do move outdoors, do you have good wind protection for your mics?

[Ben Dailey]

The shotgun is a vidpro xm-55.

I have wind protection for it and the DR-40.

[Jay Massengill]

How many people will speak on-camera at one time? Are you satisfied with the sound quality of your mic when connected to the DR-40 in real-world conditions, especially indoors in lively or reverberent spaces?

Unless there is something wide to cover, like the employees gathered around the car giving a group slogan, I wouldn't record with the DR-40's onboard mics. I think you should concentrate on getting the shotgun mic as close as possible to the subject or subjects without it being in frame, and monitor the audio very carefully while recording.

If the showroom is a very lively and reflective space, you'd likely get much better results using a wired lavalier mic on the subject, but you don't mention having access to one.

Will any of the audio be recorded voice-over style or will it all be on-camera?

Make certain you shoot and edit to the exact specs required by the local station for their broadcast needs.

[Ben Dailey]

Thanks.

Only one person will be talking.

I plan to have two mics running, one for a wide angle and one for close up.

No Lav available.

[Ryan Douthit]

If you haven't yet, pre-scout the location (or use Google maps if you can't make it there personally.) You'll want to know the lay of the land in advance. I've shot at a lot of dealerships and I've noticed that many of them are dark and some have really ugly lighting inside. (What might be fine to our eyes is green and pulsing on video. You might have to dial the shutter back to 1/60 or 1/50 to get rid of the waves.)

If you can, bring a fill light. Or, if you are indoors, be sure you can position the talent in front of a large window.

I'd also suggest begging or borrowing a lav. That will make the shoot way easier.

Lastly, some dealership personnel don't know how to turn off their in-store music. Make sure they cut that before you start filming. It might seems obvious, but it's an issue you might encounter. Also, warn them not to wear tight patterns or a bright white shirt. I find the one time I don't tell them is the one time they show up in the most moire-inducing pattern you can imagine.

[Ben Dailey]

I was there last week taking photos for a billboard. It actually looked pretty well lit, but I'm taking a couple lights just in case.

[Steven Digges]

Watch very carefully for your reflection or other undesirable reflections in the cars paint. That may seem obvious but reflections in large shinny surfaces with lots of angles can be subtle or change. For example, you check for them and everything is fine, then in post you notice two people that walked up behind you to watch you shoot that you did not notice....disaster!

Another vote that says get a lav any way you can. I can't imagine that space sounding good on the shotgun.

Steve

I have always joked about wanting to shoot a car commercial just so I could finally have a reason to crank up the REVEEEEERB in post.

[Brian Berg]

I highly recommend using a wireless lav mic. They get much closer to the source than you can get with a shotgun. I shoot with as many sources as possible and pick and choose, or combine sources to get loud, clear audio.

Pre-plan the lighting if shot outdoors (indoors too!). Plan on sun direction, shade, and plan for cloudy days with ever-changing lighting. I bring lights and run them outdoors to smooth out the variations of clouds.

EDIT: You can get a good quality Sony wireless lav for around $500. The sound quality difference to a shotgun is pretty significant.

www.sublime-lighting.com

[Ryan Douthit]

How did it go Ben?